Can I put Neosporin on my breast lift scars one week out of surgery?

I would highly recommend not putting Neosporin on
your breast lift scars, one week after surgery. Neosporin will not do any thing to improve your
scars, but it will increase the risk of a
local allergic reaction to the ointment.

I do not find much use for Neosporin.  It will probably cause more harm than good.  We do not use anything on the scars this early after surgery.

Thank you for your question.  In general, once you are more than 1-2 days out, neosporin ointment on scars has no benefit.  The skin is sealed and there is no added benefit from the ointment.  

At one week from surgery, unless you have had some areas of incomplete healing or ischemia causing partial skin loss, your incisions are sealed and need no antibiotic protection. In fact, Neosporin (and Mycitracin) are triple antibiotic ointments containing bacitracin, polymyxin, and neomycin.Neomycin has a fairly significant (as high as 10%) risk of stimulating a hypersensitivity or allergic reaction with repeated application. Of course, when the incisional area where it has been applied starts to turn red and get tiny blisters, most patients (and a surprising number of doctors) do not think allergic or hypersensitivity reaction, they think "OMG, infection!" And then what do you think happens? Yup, MORE Neosporin ointment. I have even seen this get so bad the patient goes to her family doctor, who says "Heavens, that looks infected!" and then starts the patient on potent oral antibiotics (all the while continuing the ointment that is actually the CAUSE of the problem).If you want your scars to be the best possible, use Vitamin E oil to gently massage the scars (start no sooner than 3 weeks post-op to allow the scars to become durable and to avoid stretch or breakdown from too-early or too-vigorous massage). Silicone scar sheeting or scar pads will also help flatten, soften, and fade scars, reducing scar hypertrophy. These are the ONLY things that have been shown to reliably improve scar appearance. Mederma, ScarGuard, etc. are not harmful, but have not been shown to have an actual statistically-significant benefit over gentle massage and scar pads.if you must use ointment on a few tiny areas of delayed healing or pinhole opening, use Bacitracin (single antibiotic ointment) as it has much less likelihood for stimulating an allergic or hypersensitivity response.Best wishes! Dr. Tholen

Not sure why you would want to put neosporin on your scars...typically, people want to use scar creams but I would recommend that you wait until your incisions are fully healed (meaning no scabs) before applying any type of lotion or cream. Every plastic surgeon has their own post op protocol so please follow their post op regimen. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!!

Neosporin has no proves positive effect in wound healing and can sometimes cause allergic reactions.  Consult your surgeon on his / her recommendations for wound care.  We put Micropore tape for three weeks and then change to a scar care regiment of silicone and massage.

Neosporin would likely not hurt but may not be useful at this point.  Please check with your surgeon to see what he or she recommends.

Please ask your surgeon for instructions about wound care. If glue was used, do not apply any ointment.

I would not apply anything to your incisions for a minimum of 2 weeks. You want to make sure the incisions are completely closed before putting any type of Neosporin ointment.